


Would You Be So Kind

by xLaReaux



Series: To Something so Profane [1]
Category: Re-Animator (Movies)
Genre: Autistic Herbert West, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sensory Processing Disorder, Stimming, autistic character written by an autistic author, dan cain is a sweetheart, domesticated herbert west, herbert west is a mess, kinda fluff I think, stimming activities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23782624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLaReaux/pseuds/xLaReaux
Summary: Daniel Cain, the “ever-observant doctor” as his partner sarcastically likes to call him, cannot, for the life of him, figure out said partner in the slightest.
Relationships: Daniel Cain & Herbert West, Daniel Cain/Herbert West
Series: To Something so Profane [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713325
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	Would You Be So Kind

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt in over six years at writing something for the public. Please be gentle.

Daniel Cain, the “ever-observant doctor” as his partner sarcastically likes to call him, cannot, for the life of him, figure out said partner in the slightest.

He’s known Herbert West for over nine months and the small man remains an enigma. Dan didn’t know it was possible to learn new things about a person every single day, but Herbert is quite reserved so he shouldn’t be surprised. Herbert has never talked about family, friends, any sort of past in general, et cetera. Which, regrettably, is to be expected from a man with the emotional understanding and comprehension of a goldfish.

With their recent homecoming from Peru and the beginning of some sort of… relationship, Dan is beginning to pick up a few traits and oddities besides the blatant manipulation and manic focus that Herbert often displays. He doesn’t know how he never noticed them before, but he supposes it stems from those long months spent sharing close quarters in a medical tent in the middle of a fucking warzone.

There was also a large chunk of time after the massacre that he absolutely refused to be in the same room as Herbert, so that can also be a large factor in the equation.

A few months ago, Dan had noticed Herbert’s real knack of breaking number two pencils; in two ways, he’s deduced. Mainly, it can be completely silent while they are in the lab when a surprisingly loud _SNAP_ rings through the stagnant air. He’d jumped the first few times but quickly adjusted to the occasional sound. Despite what their old doctor and colleagues thought, Herbert apparently did have a real need to break pencils in half. What he’s noticed most recently is Herbert’s affinity for actually chewing on pencils, number two’s of course. Dan picks them up to use multiple times, unaware that they had been gnawed on until he feels the texture. Hell, he finds pencils in the garbage that have been chewed completely in half. At this point, he isn’t sure if the habit is benign, endearing, or gross.

Then there is Herbert’s habit of what he can only describe as… vocal tics; indescribable clicking sounds made with the throat. How Dan never realized beforehand is beyond him. Sometimes the tics are soft and are seemingly produced as a sign of concentration. Other times, the clicking is so noticeable and repetitive that Dan wants to rip out Herbert’s throat; Dan deduces that the long and loud string of the tic rears its head when Herbert is annoyed or distressed. When Herbert is upset, Dan normally becomes upset at the presence of a seemingly never-ending line of clicking.

Another blatantly obvious oddity Dan notices is Herbert’s tendency to begin rocking back and forth; repetitively and, at times, almost aggressively. Believe it or not, this oddity has Dan worried for Herbert’s safety. He’s seen patients at the hospital who do the same exact thing; right before they’re transferred to a mental institution. More than a few times he’s stealthily observed Herbert on the rare occasion the scientist comes upstairs to do normal human activities. The small man would be reading a medical journal or encyclopedia and begin softly rocking back and forth; they’d be in the same room absentmindedly watching a terrible movie and the rocking would commence, Dan watching from the corner of his eye; he would catch Herbert eating at the kitchen table (thank fuck) and notice the man’s torso rock ever so gently.

These are the main traits and oddities Dan notices when they’re around each other. He often wonders if Herbert’s body has any odder tics and/or habits when he is alone.

Dan doesn’t get any sort of answer until they are both working the same overnight shift at Arkham’s General Hospital.

Thirteen hours into a sixteen-hour shift has Dan on the verge of needing to bang his head repeatedly into a wall. Despite dreading any activity or emergencies, he can’t stand the stillness of a slow shift, especially at night. He’s recently back from a break – where he found himself nodding off instead of eating – and sitting at one of the nurse’s stations when he sees Herbert standing in the middle of an empty hallway. He hasn’t taken one step forward in thirty seconds at Dan’s count, which is _extremely_ odd for Herbert’s normally rushed and busy demeanor. There’s also a strange movement coming from Herbert’s left side.

With a raised eyebrow and concerned expression, Dan lifts himself from the desk chair and slowly treads around the desk, his gaze not once leaving Herbert’s form.

“Hey, uh Herbert,” Dan calls, moving forward ever so slowly towards his boyfriend. “What are you doing just standing there?”

At the mention of his name, Herbert’s head lifts up so fast his glasses fly right off his face to land behind him on the shining tile floor. His eyes are wide in surprise, brows shooting up further than should be humanly possible. He seems almost embarrassed.

It’s then Dan notices exactly what the movement is to Herbert’s left.

Herbert’s whole arm looks like it’s cramping and twitching before it suddenly begins flapping through the air at an alarming speed. After ten more seconds, the motion ceases and Dan has no idea whether to walk the length of the hallway to hold Herbert or to stay completely still where he is until Herbert is comfortable.

He gets his answer when Herbert quickly retrieves his glasses from the floor and turns on his heels to begin briskly striding the opposite way from where he came.

That’s not good enough for Dan.

Dan rushes down the hallway until he’s caught up to Herbert, gently wrapping his fingers around the smaller man’s left wrist. “Herbert,” he whispers. “What are you doing? What was that? Are you okay? Do you need me to- “?

Herbert wrenches his wrist away before Dan can finish his line of questioning, hazel eyes guarded and defiant. Dan recognizes this as Herbert’s closed off downward spiral.

“Do I need you to what, Dan? Hold my hand through the rest of our shift while you stare at me with your pity filled doe eyes? Or, perhaps, be the guardian angel over my shoulder while my body reacts simply to your oh-so-mighty presence.”

“For fuck’s sake, Herb,” Dan sighs as he runs a hand over his face. “Stop being a bitch for _one_ second and let me know if you’re okay.”

Herbert’s eyes narrow icily, left arm subtly flapping once again at his side. “’I am satisfactory.’ Does that placate your emotional need for confirmation? Will this ease your burning desire to project your worries onto me, _Cain_?”

The use of his last name, uttered so spitefully, has Dan’s jaw locked in a worried yet furious vice. “Yes, _West_ , I suppose that’s all I’ll get. Goddammit,” he yells, throwing his hands up in the air during his emphasis of Herbert’s last name. “Apologies for caring about your ass.”

“Apology accepted.” Dan wants to shove Herbert’s stupid face into a brick wall. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to which I should return.”

Dan lets Herbert rush down the hallway and around the corner, keeping his eyes trained on the once again twitching left arm of his partner. Sometimes he wonders why exactly he stays around Herbert, let alone _with_ him. The man makes Dan feel like he should start going to therapy. That train of thought brings a grim chuckle from his throat. Out of everything he and Herbert have done together, _this_ is why Dan thinks he needs psychological help.

Running an annoyed hand through his stupidly long hair, Doctor Daniel Cain mutters to himself as he walks back down the hallway to the nurse’s station where he needs to finish patient reports and summaries.

Herbert is avoiding him. He’s not sure if he should be relieved or nervous. Dan is sitting on the couch in the living room of their shared home, trying his best to read the newspaper instead of worrying about his dipshit of a boyfriend. It’s been exactly one week since Dan had confronted Herbert at the hospital and he is practically vibrating with tension; two-way tension, mind you. Dan refuses to place the blame solely on himself.

When he signed up for a relationship with Herbert, he had no idea his partner excelled in avoiding contact with an individual of whom he wishes to steer clear. It drives him up the fucking wall. Even to Herbert, he knows this sort of behavior is unhealthy and will not end in a favorable way.

Dan, who is just trying his best to read one goddamn article, finds himself chucking the whole newspaper onto the table in front of him, shaking hands raking through his still wet, out of the shower hair. This is fucking ridiculous; there needs to be some sort of middle ground in this relationship, despite Herbert’s unspoken objections.

It isn’t until Herbert refuses to come upstairs for dinner for the seventh day in a row that Dan has had enough. Does he go storming down the stairs to the basement? No. Does he maybe skip some steps and almost trip down the staircase? Yes. Damn his caring, curious nature. He decides to be stealthy, hoping to once again be gentle with his approach to Herbert, despite the leftovers of frustration bubbling in his gut.

Dan notices two things when he silently opens the door to the lab:

Observation number one comes not as a surprise, but still kind of jolts his mind a bit. Herbert is sitting on a stool, concentrating on reading notes from a recent notebook of results while rocking; between slow and completely agitated, Dan takes note.

Observation number two has Dan completely flabbergasted. His little shit of a boyfriend is, yet again, flapping his left hand – which Dan is determined to bring up – while covered in some kind of large blanket; a blanket Dan has never seen before in his time living with Herbert. How many blankets does Herbert own that aren’t in his bedroom? One day he’ll remember to ask.

For now, Dan decides to take things slow, opting to close the door and knock to avoid Herbert asking if he had been spied on.

“Herbert,” Dan calls after exactly three knocks. “I know for a fact you don’t lock this door when it’s just us home, so prepare for my presence.” He decides not to wait before inching into the lab space. He has to keep himself from chuckling as he catches the foot end of Herbert shooting up and trying, and failing, to hide the blanket he had wrapped around himself. “Before you yell at me, yes I know I interrupted something and no, I don’t care.”

“Then what is the use of knocking if you’re just going to disturb my important progress? Barge in next time, why don’t you.”

Herbert’s posture is hunched and rigid. Dan tries his best not to rush across the room and soothe him.

“Don’t tempt me, West, I just might.” Taking a long inhale, Dan prepares for a series of ‘worst’ scenarios. “Now, before you pull any type of bullshit, we need to talk. You know, the thing that grown, mature adults do when there is some kind of mature, adult topic that needs to be discussed.”

Dan sees Herbert bristle, but not run. Progress.

“If we must.” His words should sound like acid, but they don’t. The words somehow seem… small; like a child about to be scolded. Taking a seat on the abandoned stool, Herbert’s eyes fall to his lap, where his previously flapping hand now sits quietly, shaking softly. “What may I help you with, Dan?”

How can this infuriating little man make every single interaction sound like a business deal? Still, progress indeed. 

Dan takes that as a sign to approach, so he does, albeit carefully. “You know what I need help with, Herb,” he says quietly as he slides another stool in front of Herbert so he, too, can have a seat. “Don’t make me say it if you don’t want to hear it.”

“Why do I owe any kind of explanation?” There is a cold, guarded tone to Herbert’s voice, yet Dan notices his eyes stay downcast. “I see no reason in dredging up irrelevant events.”

“It wasn’t irrelevant; you know that.”

“Do I? Should I really know that Daniel? What is the basis for your need of knowledge about my behavior and mannerisms?” Herbert’s eyes shoot up to meet Dan’s own, hazel glaring up at brown irises.

At the shift in Herbert’s tone from quiet and reserved to louder and defensive, Dan can't help but let it affect his own voice as he shakes his head in annoyance. “Herbert, you’re my boyfriend, for Christ’s sake. I worry about you.”

“I fail to see how our society-based ‘relationship’ status affects your desire to intrude upon my personal life situation.”

“It affects _everything_ about the situation!”

“Your basic needs for emotional attachment do not-”

"Do not _what,_ Herbert? Give me any kind of say in how _I_ act and process what I’ve seen?” Dan knows what he’s about to say isn’t fair, but a lot of the times they talk, Herbert needs to be kicked out of the dark to get anything accomplished, action over simple words. “The rocking, the chewing, the snapping, the clicking, and now the flapping; not to mention other mannerisms I may not see. Those things aren’t normal!”

Herbert abruptly stands, his body wound as tight as a spring and chest puffing out in defiance. “You have _no_ right,” he spits. “You think just because we are in some sort of ‘romantic’ relationship that you have permission to invade my privacy and dive in to- “

Dan shoots up as well. “I have _every_ right! I know my feelings are not enough of an importance for you to even begin to care about what I have to say, but there needs to be middle ground! Or am I just an idiot for thinking that maybe you could come to care enough to let me in, just a little bit?!”

“AUTISM!”

The singular word that rips through the air causes a palpable silence almost thick enough to choke Dan. Such a simple conclusion but, somehow, so complicated.

Dan takes his seat once more, having to look up to see Herbert’s face and hoping the reverse in height difference helps his partner feel less boxed in. “… Autism,” he whispers to himself. “Herbert…”

“Tch. Spare me the pity party,” Herbert says with, surprisingly, less venom. “I suppose you expect for me to run into your arms and cry about the tragedy that was my life growing up.”

“I only expect what you want to consensually give me, Herb.”

“Danny please… please don’t,” comes a plea that makes Dan’s insides knot.

He slowly reaches a hand up to cup Herbert’s cheek, relieved that there is no pulling away. “I’m not a psychiatrist; hell, I’m not even a doctor right now. I’m your partner; someone who cares and wants to know how to help.”

The words seem to help Herbert’s body loosen up only a tad, but Dan calls this a victory. It becomes a double victory when he feels Herbert lean into the palm on his cheek.

“Autism accompanied by sensory processing complications. I was privately diagnosed when I was seven,” Herbert begins, his eyes focusing on a point beyond Dan’s face seemingly lost in thought. “Emphasis on privately. Mommy and daddy could not stand having an idiot as a son.”

Dan’s thumb begins stroking his partner’s cheek softly, signaling to continue. Hazel eyes once again meet his own; timid and small.

Herbert sits back down on the stool while still leaning into Dan’s touch, beginning to absentmindedly rock as he continues. “Switzerland was not my first time in psychiatric care, you know. I was sent to those sorts of hospitals under the guise of boarding school to discipline my ‘undesirable traits’.” Of its own volition, Herbert’s forehead falls to rest against Dan’s, and Dan has to quell the urge to wrap the small man in his arms.

“My tics, as you called them, are sensory stimulation responses,” Herbert mutters, his tone of voice coming across as pained. "'Stims', I have heard them say. They are my body’s attempt to stabilize my sensory evaluation.”

Dan takes a deep breath of understanding before planting a quick tender kiss on Herbert’s nose. “Are they all involuntary?”

“No, not all of them. Chewing and snapping pencils are a stimulation I began after embarrassing Hill during my first lecture.” The memory brings a small yet genuinely sly grin to Herbert’s face. “They’ve been a favorite ever since.”

“Except when I grab one to write with and feel all your grimy teeth marks.”

“Maybe you should pay better attention to what you pick up.”

“Maybe _you_ should have a specially marked pencil holder or some shit.” A chuckle escapes both of the men; a long overdue reprieve, in Dan’s mind. He pulls away from Herbert just a little so he can make out the expression on Herbert’s face. Eyes are still skittish and once again darting, but the hard lines of his face have softened considerably.

“Dan,” Herbert sighs as he finally brings his rocking motion to a stop. “You cannot tell _anyone_ about this.”

Dan is taken aback by Herbert’s adamant undertone. “Herbert, I understand; _others_ will understand- “

“No, Daniel, this topic is not up for discussion at the present moment.” A frustrated huff escapes Herbert’s mouth as Dan suddenly finds a hand atop his own on Herbert’s face. “Please don’t make me regret this, that is all I ask.”

Shaking his head adamantly, Dan responds, “No way in hell I’m about to make Herbert West regret opening up to me, a lowly mortal of humble beginnings.”

The hand atop his own flicks Dan’s lightly. “I may already regret it.”

“Too bad, pal, it’s all in my head.”

“That of a bubble headed co-ed.”

“Ouch, low blow.” Dan leans forward to quickly steal a kiss from Herbert’s lips before standing up. “Hey, the blanket you tried so hard to hide from me. What’s so special about it? Got a whole secret stash around here?”

Herbert’s surprised, now ghostly white face splutters for a second before he, too, shoots out of his seat. “I… uh… the… the blanket?”

“Herbert. You know damn well I saw you try and shove that thing out of sight.” Dan brings out the big guns in the form of big doe eyes and puppy pout.

“… Daniel Cain don’t you start.”

“C’mon Herb, there is a whole other blanket of yours in this house that I had no idea about. If Herbert West actually owns a blanket of his own, I may have to steal back all of my own.”

After a moment, Herbert rolls his eyes before bending down to retrieve said object from under a lab table. “It… It is a special blanket I had made. Another stimulation ‘activity’ if you will. They call it a weighted blanket.”

Herbert unceremoniously drops the heavy blanket into Dan’s arms, making him grunt at the unexpected weight. “Wow, they weren’t kidding. What, do you just wrap it around you?”

“Of course. It provides a comforting form of pressure contact when I have trouble grounding my mind. I find myself doing some of my best work when I use it.”

A sudden, unpleasant thought triggers in Dan’s mind at the mention of Herbert doing his best work with an aid of some kind. “Herbert,” he says softly, moving to wrap his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders. “When you were taking the reagent… One of the reasons you began using it…”

Herbert turns quicker than Dan’s arm can react. Now chest to chest, Herbert silences Dan with a finger to his lips. “That is a discussion for another time.”

Dan takes that and will definitely run with it until he can corner Herbert once more. In the meantime, he has another idea. “Well, since I’m down here and you were working, I bet this blanket is large enough for some workplace cuddles,” he suggests as he smoothly wraps the weighted material of the blanket around them both.

His smooth move is greeted with an indignant grunt but no movement or pulling away.

“I hope you do not expect to receive any sort of special attention just because you have now forcefully attached yourself to my hip.”

Over the next few hours, Dan makes it his mission to do just that, earning noises of annoyance and, thankfully, confirming pecks to his cheek several times.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated as I would love feedback for future works in this series!


End file.
